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paradaisboi's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.25
joyofroux's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
5.0
rena_rena's review against another edition
challenging
dark
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Je to dlouhá, komplexní kniha napsaná krásným květnatým jazykem, plná historických a literárních referencí, kritizuje myšlenky kolonialismu a zkoumá jaké to je být Afričan v Evropě. Ze začátku plynula pomalu, obávala jsem se toho, že tomu tak bude po celou dobu. Postupně se ale rozjížděla, děj se rozvíjel a více věcí už dávalo smysl. V některých částech se děj trochu zadrhl, ale vždycky si našel cestu zpátky a plynul dál. Občas mi připomínala dobrodružný historický román, jindy zase filosofickou úvahu.
Celkově jsem si užila čtení tohoto příběhu, líbilo se mi jaké množství myšlenek autor stihl prozkoumat, od otázky co je to vrcholné dílo až po úvahy nad životem a smrtí. Jedna z mála věcí, které této knize můžu vytknout je, jak hlavní hrdina, který očividně měl autobiografické prvky, přemýšlel o ženách. Všimla jsem si toho hlavně u této postavy, i když to byly jen náznaky. Nevím, jestli to bylo záměrné, trochu mě to zmátlo, ale zklamalo mě to, protože jinak kniha obsahovala myšlenky, které si s tím protiřečily.
Celkově jsem si užila čtení tohoto příběhu, líbilo se mi jaké množství myšlenek autor stihl prozkoumat, od otázky co je to vrcholné dílo až po úvahy nad životem a smrtí. Jedna z mála věcí, které této knize můžu vytknout je, jak hlavní hrdina, který očividně měl autobiografické prvky, přemýšlel o ženách. Všimla jsem si toho hlavně u této postavy, i když to byly jen náznaky. Nevím, jestli to bylo záměrné, trochu mě to zmátlo, ale zklamalo mě to, protože jinak kniha obsahovala myšlenky, které si s tím protiřečily.
flyingfox02's review against another edition
This book has been compared to the wonderful, magical The Shadow of The Wind, so I was riding on that extremely high expectation coming into this. Unfortunately I have not seen enough of that, and I'm not very intrigued about the plot (it's a slow development) or themes to enjoy the book as it is. The writing is poetic but it's also indulgent and dense at times. I'm just not in the right headspace to continue with this book right now, and my other CRs are a lot easier to digest and enjoy anyway. I might come back to it in the future, I might not.
bluelilyblue's review against another edition
4.0
Excellent exemple d'un roman où c'est ""le voyage et pas la destination"" qui fait que la lecture en vaut la peine; des fois frustrant et même insupportablement dense et labyrinthique, La Plus Secrète Mémoire met en question des problématiques littéraires séculaires (l'originalité, l'impact de l'identité ou de l'héritage culturel sur l'écriture, la réception critique etc.), tout ça en tissant une histoire remarquablement passionnante d'un écrivain qui n'a jamais vécu et de son livre inexistant.
Une lecture lourde, pendant laquelle j'ai perdu patience plusieurs fois, mais que je suis contente d'avoir complétée. Gagnant bien mérité du Goncourt, à mon avis.
Une lecture lourde, pendant laquelle j'ai perdu patience plusieurs fois, mais que je suis contente d'avoir complétée. Gagnant bien mérité du Goncourt, à mon avis.
mwwils17's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
This might be the best written book I have read.
It was very difficult to put it down, but I also wanted to take my time with the book and really sit with it.
This is one of the few books I can see myself rereading
It was very difficult to put it down, but I also wanted to take my time with the book and really sit with it.
This is one of the few books I can see myself rereading
aledic's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
4.5
lizziebennett's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
archytas's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
"We didn’t write for the romanticism of the writer life (now a caricature of itself) or the money (that would have been suicidal) or the glory (an outmoded currency to which the modern age preferred celebrity) or the future (it never asked for anything) or to transform the world (it’s not the world that needs transforming) or to change life (it never changes) or to make a difference (leave that to the heroic writers) and not as a celebration of free art either (which is an illusion because art always pays for itself). So what was the reason? We didn’t know, and maybe therein lay our answer: we wrote because we knew nothing, we wrote to say that we no longer knew what to do in this world except write, without hope but without facile resignation either, with obstinacy and exhaustion and joy, our only goal to finish the best we could, meaning with our eyes open ... in the way of a sentinel, the sole, trembling sentinel of a run-down, doomed city, who nonetheless continues to scrutinize the shadows from which the flash of lightning announcing his death and the fall of his city will shoot forth."
It is a little intimidating to write a user review of a book that has the devastating impact of bad critique as a central plot point. Sarr dissects the ways in which discussions of African writers so often diminish their work and exclude them from canon even as they purport to vaunt inclusion.
This is also a difficult book to review because it is just so *much*. You could equally and validly describe *The Most Secret Memory of Men* as a critique of Francophone colonialism, a psychological novel, a literature lovers' homage, sprawling inter-generational historical fiction, a creepy ghost story and/or a suspenseful mystery. All those things are true, and yet it never feels anything but itself - stripped-back rather than overstuffed. And fundamentally, like all good books - and I think this is a *very* good book - it is about being human.
Which is not to say it is an easy read. Like its subject, the novel is enigmatic. The characters all whirl around novelist Elimane, a man or a writer onto whom they project even as they seek to unearth. Sarr draws the reader into this fascination, dropping just enough mysterious hints to make us, too, want to unearth. We too, want to find, to know (this narrative tension provides a great balancer to the more reflective elements of the book)
The book also plays with our perceptions of reality. Events occur that could be strange coincidences or ghostly manifestations. Elimane takes on epic proportions—at one minute, he is a naive genius, at another, a vengeful conjurer, and at another, a cynical survivor.
He is a writer who shows off his depth of understanding of the canon only to be violently rejected by it. A theme of the novel is being caught between cultures and whether this creates freedom or constraint—or indeed if it is possible at all. Elimane "brandished every card of whiteness, culturally at least; these were simply used as reminders of his negritude."
And most of all, this sense of what is particular to each reader is about Elimane's one novel, which every character finds life-changing. The book itself is a distillation - or more accurately a pastiche - of literature itself. And for each character, this changes them, sets them on a new course, and adjusts how they see the world around them. Literature, Sarr says to us, is something ineffable and yet transformative. It lives beyond its creators, even as it cripples them.
"Literature; all that remained and would ever remain was literature; indecent literature, as solution, as problem, as faith, as shame, as pride, as life.”
It is a little intimidating to write a user review of a book that has the devastating impact of bad critique as a central plot point. Sarr dissects the ways in which discussions of African writers so often diminish their work and exclude them from canon even as they purport to vaunt inclusion.
This is also a difficult book to review because it is just so *much*. You could equally and validly describe *The Most Secret Memory of Men* as a critique of Francophone colonialism, a psychological novel, a literature lovers' homage, sprawling inter-generational historical fiction, a creepy ghost story and/or a suspenseful mystery. All those things are true, and yet it never feels anything but itself - stripped-back rather than overstuffed. And fundamentally, like all good books - and I think this is a *very* good book - it is about being human.
Which is not to say it is an easy read. Like its subject, the novel is enigmatic. The characters all whirl around novelist Elimane, a man or a writer onto whom they project even as they seek to unearth. Sarr draws the reader into this fascination, dropping just enough mysterious hints to make us, too, want to unearth. We too, want to find, to know (this narrative tension provides a great balancer to the more reflective elements of the book)
The book also plays with our perceptions of reality. Events occur that could be strange coincidences or ghostly manifestations. Elimane takes on epic proportions—at one minute, he is a naive genius, at another, a vengeful conjurer, and at another, a cynical survivor.
He is a writer who shows off his depth of understanding of the canon only to be violently rejected by it. A theme of the novel is being caught between cultures and whether this creates freedom or constraint—or indeed if it is possible at all. Elimane "brandished every card of whiteness, culturally at least; these were simply used as reminders of his negritude."
And most of all, this sense of what is particular to each reader is about Elimane's one novel, which every character finds life-changing. The book itself is a distillation - or more accurately a pastiche - of literature itself. And for each character, this changes them, sets them on a new course, and adjusts how they see the world around them. Literature, Sarr says to us, is something ineffable and yet transformative. It lives beyond its creators, even as it cripples them.
"Literature; all that remained and would ever remain was literature; indecent literature, as solution, as problem, as faith, as shame, as pride, as life.”